Fake Pound Coins on Increase (video)

Fake Pound Coins on Increase (video)

news.bbc.co.uk

The BBC has learned that the number of fake pound coins in circulation may be as many as one in 20.

The figure is twice the official estimates.

(visit the link for the full news article)

How on earth could the authorities allow the situation to decline to this extent?! 1 in 20 pound coins are counterfeit - and this according to the MSM!

This is beginning to look like a run-away problem. Back in January a mainstream British newspaper published the following:

Criminal gangs have dramatically increased their output of counterfeit £1 coins in the past year, pumping millions of fakes into the economy and threatening to undermine public confidence in the money supply.

Sampling by the Royal Mint of coins in circulation across Britain has found that the number in circulation rose by 27 per cent during 2008, raising the amount of sham coinage to £37.5m – or one £1 coin in every 40 – the highest since the coin was introduced in 1983.

In 2002, one in 100 £1 coins was a worthless fake and in 2007 one in 50. Royal Mint officials are considering launching a public information campaign to warn the public how to spot the fakes...

Source

Considering? You've got to be kidding. A nation's currency is being counterfeited on this scale and they're considering telling the public the difference? The more you think about it the more it sounds like heads should roll. Not to mention the need for an immediate plan of action.

...Technically any person handing one over is breaking the law, meaning that millions of people are unwittingly committing a crime every year, but many of the fakes closely reproduce the metallic compound used by the Royal Mint, making them hard to detect by bank counting machines.

The rise in forgeries, revealed in documents obtained by The Independent, prompted a warning from an expert that their prevalence could undermine confidence in the money supply.

That was back in January. Now it seems the situation is twice as bad as previously thought!

How could it affect people on a local level? -

..."If the public starts losing confidence in coins and notes, you get people refusing to take them," said Robert Matthews, who retired as Chief Assayer of the Royal Mint in 2002. "It could damage a lot of small shopkeepers doing lots of small transactions."

Clearly this is not a problem that should have been swept under the carpet.

So what kind of people engage in counterfeiting? -

Five years in jail are waiting for the counterfeiter who was able to make 14 million 1 pound coins. It was one of the biggest coin-making operations, according to the police.

The name of the 37-year old counterfeiter is Marcus Glindon. The former engineer started running his illegal business in a workshop after losing his job. Although the forgery brought him about 300,000 pounds, his lifestyle did no show any signs of wealth, the police said.


Inside his workshop in Enfield, North London, police found enough machinery to produce fake coins on a large scale. Police also discovered copies of the dyes Glindon used to imprint 1 pound coins. After being arrested the counterfeiter admitted that he had been minting fake coins for seven years.

Marcus Glindon, who is also the father of two kids, mentioned that he produced coins alone and that he received orders from two men who called themselves "Tom" and "John". The two men would bring materials to his workshop. Glindon used those materials to make completed coins as well as blank coins.

In seven years he was able to make 14 million coins. Among them there were 2.5 millions stamped coins ready for being used for buying things. The coins have not been recuperated.

According to Glindon's calculations, at one stage he was producing daily 12,000 pound coins. Then the finished coins we passed to his accomplices. The two paid him weekly 2000 pounds...

Source

This is what made the story pertinent for me: "The former engineer started running his illegal business in a workshop after losing his job". The way unemployment is going across the globe, how many more will be tempted into serious illegal activities?..

What a mess!



NB - UK members may wish to view the associated video (visible on the same page) on how to spot a fake.


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4810c22a22bf.jpg[/atsimg]

Source




news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)


[edit on 8/4/09 by pause4thought]

What a fantastic reason to suggest now is the time to withdrawn physical currency! 'There's too much counterfeit cash about, it's too easy to make and too easy to get passed on - so we're banning it. If it's not coins, then it's fake notes. From now on, it's going to be cards only. Special cards. They've got special ID on them and everything. It's all safe, don't worry about it. Go back to sleep'.

I recently changed a £20 in a £1 change machine and was delivered 3x counterfeit coins. Passing counterfeit coins is illegal and so I was effectively the victim of theft, being £3 down.

This reporter made his excuses and left, dealing with the coins appropriately :-)

Originally posted by Merriman Weir
What a fantastic reason to suggest now is the time to withdrawn physical currency! 'There's too much counterfeit cash about, it's too easy to make and too easy to get passed on - so we're banning it. If it's not coins, then it's fake notes. From now on, it's going to be cards only. Special cards. They've got special ID on them and everything. It's all safe, don't worry about it. Go back to sleep'.

Well said, read between the lines.

reply to post by Merriman Weir


Some good connecting of the dots there, MW. That's certainly thickened the plot.

Cashless Society with Implanted Microchip - video



reply to post by SugarCube


An interesting anecdote. Can you believe the size of this?

When do they start taking it seriously? 1 in 10? 1 in 5?

1 in 2?

Oh great , this means everytime I go to the pub I now have to check not only the notes I get as change but also any pounds coins, I wonder how much hassle I'm going to get off the barmaid when I say "Ere , this coin is fake, may I have a genuine one in my change please?".

reply to post by DataWraith


Yep, it means the man/woman in the street is being constantly robbed.

And here's another CT to add to MW's: could it be the UK economy is close enough to going down the route either of the Euro or a global currency that they've done a cost/benefit analysis and decided it just isn't worth doing anything to fix this?

G20 communique contains basis for new world currency

I've just come across a related BBC article:

Fake £1 coin estimate doubled

Former Queen's Assay Master Robert Matthews - a leading authority on fake coins - is also worried.

He said: "The Mint is really trying to play down the problem and keep it as low-key as possible.

"They've not produced any publicity material for banks etc to tell us how to differentiate between real and fake coins.

"They don't want to undermine public confidence in the coins, you might get people refusing to take them."...

...The problem is that finding the fakes is not in anyone's interests.

As soon as a coin accepted in good faith is found to be counterfeit, it is immediately rendered worthless - and in addition attempting to pass it on is an offence.

Mr Brown said: "Provided the coins are just being accepted and passed through the system nobody cares. It's only when people start rejecting the coins that people come to us."

Let's give credit where credit's due. Apparently the Royal Mint is acting out of view of the public:

Although it says little in public, the Royal Mint is taking action - testing far more coins than before.

It redoubled its efforts last September after the BBC revealed around one in 50 pound coins was fake.

In the last quarter of 2008 the Mint removed 270,000 fake pound coins from circulation compared to 97,000 for the whole of the previous year.

Nevertheless they have started acting very late in the day; having allowed the situation to deteriorate this far is appalling. It sounds like they have just been shamed into action. Them dragging their heels like this still leaves plenty of room for the theories laid out above to be explored further.

Watch this space.